Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: maxs on September 03, 2017, 05:48:50 am
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About to pull the trigger on a 44" Z3200PS.
I know she is not all that good looking but apparently has a good personality!
Last opportunity to speak up to encourage/stop me for making this commitment :-)
Thx
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Don't know about looks but it works. I have had a z3100 and now a Z3200 for 7 years. About a year ago had the main drive belt break and power supply fan noise problems that are well documented here. With the help of Mark and others here I received the guidance and encouragement to make the repair myself. While I was getting up my nerve I had to get a machine to allow me to continue work so I fixed the HP but used the new (Epson). So had the z3200 OFF for 5 months --- worked picked up so fired up the Z last week after 5 months being off. Did a recal of the paper I was using NO HEAD CLEANING REQUIRED. took off printing as if it had been used all along. I am not recommending this use method but just saying the Z is an amazing machine even when abused.
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About to pull the trigger on a 44" Z3200PS.
I know she is not all that good looking but apparently has a good personality!
Last opportunity to speak up to encourage/stop me for making this commitment :-)
Thx
Actually, I beg to differ. She IS that good looking. It is the most modernist sleek design of all the printers out there. And she is light on her feet. She may be a little slow, but she is ever ready and always faithful. Congratulations! BTW, she can be cranky on occasion. Just humor her then unplug and wait a minute and restart. The key to owning a Z3200ps printer is to just reboot. Allow the printer to get over it, whatever it is. Works more often than not, If only marriage were that simple. (Having been for 49 years).
You Will Love It.
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Actually, I beg to differ. She IS that good looking. It is the most modernist sleek design of all the printers out there. And she is light on her feet. She may be a little slow, but she is ever ready and always faithful. Congratulations! BTW, she can be cranky on occasion. Just humor her then unplug and wait a minute and restart. The key to owning a Z3200ps printer is to just reboot. Allow the printer to get over it, whatever it is. Works more often than not, If only marriage were that simple. (Having been for 49 years).
You Will Love It.
Interesting to hear your real life experience :-)
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Actually, I beg to differ. She IS that good looking. It is the most modernist sleek design of all the printers out there. And she is light on her feet. She may be a little slow, but she is ever ready and always faithful. Congratulations! BTW, she can be cranky on occasion. Just humor her then unplug and wait a minute and restart. The key to owning a Z3200ps printer is to just reboot. Allow the printer to get over it, whatever it is. Works more often than not, If only marriage were that simple. (Having been for 49 years).
You Will Love It.
Thanks Mark. One of the reasons why I decided was because of your advice and reputation :-)
Is there a Mark 2 out there just incase you decide to take a long sabbatical? lol
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It a beautiful printer. Unlike my overweight Canon and Epson, she doesnt have to weigh 340 lbs to be hot.
quote author=maxshafiq link=topic=120417.msg997659#msg997659 date=1504445084]
Interesting to hear your real life experience :-)
[/quote]
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It a beautiful printer. Unlike my overweight Canon and Epson, she doesnt have to weigh 340 lbs to be hot.
quote author=maxshafiq link=topic=120417.msg997659#msg997659 date=1504445084]
Interesting to hear your real life experience :-)
lol
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I have been printing on a Z3200PS for several months now. My only regret is that I didn't buy one sooner :)
If you run a commercial lab cranking out lots of prints each day, the Z3200PS isn't for you. If you are a photographer/printmaker and/or print mainly for yourself or for a select group of perfectionistic clients, then the Z3200PS hits all the right notes. Easy to set up, easy to maintain, beautiful print quality on both glossy and matte fine art media, and still the best print longevity even compared to the latest Epson and Canon offerings.
And I do agree, we need to clone Mark L. a time or two :) His advice and willingness to share his experience on the Z's has been invaluable. I'm a guy who manages to find obscure bugs in any software. Found one weird one in the HP driver (i.e., you have to use the skew check option when loading cut sheet or else the printer slows way down as if it's being data starved during the print cycle, go figure), Love my Z.
best,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com
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Any advice on loading sheets and avoiding multiple skew error rejections welcome.
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Any advice on loading sheets and avoiding multiple skew error rejections welcome.
I could show you easily in person, but hard to describe in text. Anyway, I do the ultimate "large cut sheet feeding" on my Z3200 (up to 44' cut sheet width) because I routinely do backprinting of metadata and a personal digital stamp, etc. For double-sided printing I carefully align/attach an interleaf sheet to the front side of the paper, then feed the whole assembly into the Z3200 from the rear of the printer as if loading a roll, then lift the Z's paper release handle and make sure the paper is properly aligned with the blue line on the front of the feed port. There is a knack to it, but once I figured it out, it turns out the Z is way easier to trick into printing on the verso of a cut sheet than was my Canon iPF8300 although I was successful in backprinting on the iPF8300 as well. Printing cut sheet on front side only is, of course, easier than that but follows the same principle of aligning correctly with the blue line on the front of the printer.
As I noted earlier, you want to select "skew check" enabled on the LCD panel rather than disable it, otherwise, printing cut sheet becomes very slow. It's a bug in the driver or firmware, but easy enough to avoid simply by always selecting the skew check enabled option. For small cut sheet such as letter size or up to Ansi C, I will use the cut sheet feed tray, with about 70% chance it will pass the skew check without having to resort to the further blue line alignment technique, but I know that some Z owners do all cut sheet feeding from the rear port and essentially give up on the Z's cut sheet feed tray. Whatever works for you, but it all gets faster with practice 8)
cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com
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I owned one till i lost it in a house fire, worked great and produced beautiful B+W and color prints. The onboard profiler was also fantastic. If i buy another printer it would still be an HP Z3200PS printer.
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Thanks for the kudos guys, but if anyone deserves credit it would be Ernst Dinkla and Geraldo Garcia. Ernst got me started working on the Z and Geraldo showed just what the Z could do in the hands of a truly pro printer. Others such as John Dean of Dean Imaging in Atlanta, and MARK MCCORMICK-GOODHART (Aardenburg Imaging) have been an inspiration based on their knowledge as professionals using the printer. Back in the old days of the Z3100, just starting out, there were a whole lot of guys who were so involved and there was a great community. Time marches on and after a falling off, now there seems to be a resurgence in interest in the printer, much of which can be attributed to Aardenburg Imaging for confirming that the Vivera ink set is still King of the Hill. It is gratifying to see so many loyal followers of the Z3200 Series printers who are mostly quietly in the background not making any noise because they are happy with their printers. Kaleria broke the ice with his repair video which was huge. And there are so many others who made amazing contributions, too numerous to mention. People have said HP is out of the running, but to the contrary, not only are they still making the best printer for artist photographers, they are still quietly selling with no PR at all. I have been encouraging them to continue making the printer and if anything perhaps make a few improvements in a Z3300 model continuing the manufacturing cycle.
KEEP MAKING VIVERA INK HP. WHATEVER YOU DO, JUST KEEP MAKING THE INK.
Ersnt taught me how to feed paper by example here on the forum. Keep a roll on the spindle and just feed paper in right where the roll paper slot is, from behind the printer, and always do skew check, and keep the paper tight to the left looking from behind, forward, touching the left paper guard on the spindle. Keep it tight as it goes into the printer with just the right amount of pressure allowing the printer to pull the paper in. Wait for the beeps and come around to the front side. If you kept it left-aligned just right, it should finish loading successfully. If not, you just do the blue line alignment thing. After a while you get the hang of it and as long as you don't force or push the initial process, soon your success rate will be in the 90's or higher. The better your ability to finesse, the higher your percentage of immediate loads. It's a skill like all of it is.
Learn the skill, work at it and you will get it, just like learning to balance on a bike for the first time.
As Mark (MHMG) said, ALWAYS do skew check. I know some people do load from over the front, but I like just laying the paper on the roll of paper beneath, leading the path in as though it is a roll. Thanks again to Ernst Dinkla for this.
By the way, Where is Ernst?
Have fun with your Z- encourage HP to keep making them!
Mark
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I owned one till i lost it in a house fire, worked great and produced beautiful B+W and color prints. The onboard profiler was also fantastic. If i buy another printer it would still be an HP Z3200PS printer.
Sorry to hear you lost your printer Felix. More than that, sorry to hear of the house fire.
Hope you're back on your feet man.
-Mark
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Oh, thank you Mark for pointing out this glitch!
I feel so stupid. That was the main reason I described the printer as painfully slow. I was really loving the fact that turning off screw check didn't cut off one side of the 8.5x11 test like my 3100 does and fed fast. But now I see that was what was slowing down my sheet printing. Duh. Roll printing is not painfully slow, just not state of the art fast. I'll just go back to feeding through the back. Really the skew check on the 3200 is much easier regardless on the 3200 anyway. You really should use flat paper though. I flatten a bunch of sheets from the end of my rolls in my dry mount press trim them accurately on the Rototrim and put them n a box for later use.
As I noted earlier, you want to select "skew check" enabled on the LCD panel rather than disable it, otherwise, printing cut sheet becomes very slow. It's a bug in the driver or firmware, but easy enough to avoid simply by always selecting the skew check enabled option. For small cut sheet such as letter size or up to Ansi C, I will use the cut sheet feed tray, with about 70% chance it will pass the skew check without having to resort to the furhter blue line alignment technique, but I know that some Z owners do all cut sheet feeding from the rear port and essentially give up on the Z's cut sheet feed tray. Whatever works for you, but it all gets faster with practice 8)
cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com
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Oh, thank you Mark for pointing out this glitch!
I was really loving the fact that turning off screw check didn't cut off one side of the 8.5x11 test like my 3100 does and fed fast.
Hi John, I know you meant to type "skew check" but in a way your spelling variant of the intended word makes perfect sense :)
All the best,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com
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Excellent advice, guys. Thanks. I've printed very few cut sheets so far, but I'm encouraged to try again.
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I love the way my iPad edits to conform to my true feelings. That's artificial intelligence and machine learning in action.
But seriously they need to fix skew check because it is so useful to be able to turn it off.
Hi John, I know you meant to type "skew check" but in a way your spelling variant of the intended word makes perfect sense :)
All the best,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com
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I assume this skew cut thing is something I can look forward to then... :-)
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But seriously they need to fix skew check because it is so useful to be able to turn it off.
I am on a z3100- it does not slow down without a skewcheck, but i have larger margins ( so less space for printing) on my paper...
( i think because the printer is now not sure about the size...)
I assume this skew cut thing is something I can look forward to then... :-)
The printer is very strict and it may take some attempts till it finds you put the paper in correctly.
Now, if you have to print a 100 sheets that really ruins your day... ;)
But the good thing is you can have really shallow margins and it comes out with straight borders.
( something that was very difficult in my darkroom days.)
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Well hell another great thing I just learned - give myself a little more border and proceed to simple to load fast 8.5x11 proofs. That's easy.
You would
I am on a z3100- it does not slow down without a skewcheck, but i have larger margins ( so less space for printing) on my paper...
( i think because the printer is now not sure about the size...)
The printer is very strict and it may take some attempts till it finds you put the paper in correctly.
Now, if you have to print a 100 sheets that really ruins your day... ;)
But the good thing is you can have really shallow margins and it comes out with straight borders.
( something that was very difficult in my darkroom days.)
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Make sure no one throws rice. It's a pain getting that out of the print path.
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I am on a z3100- it does not slow down without a skewcheck, but i have larger margins ( so less space for printing) on my paper...
( i think because the printer is now not sure about the size...)
The printer is very strict and it may take some attempts till it finds you put the paper in correctly.
Now, if you have to print a 100 sheets that really ruins your day... ;)
But the good thing is you can have really shallow margins and it comes out with straight borders.
( something that was very difficult in my darkroom days.)
When I received my Z3200 about 8 years ago I noticed that with Skew Check Off the printer became slow and remained slow when I switched the setting to Skew Check On. It got its "speed" again only after switching to Roll and then for both Skew Check On and Roll. I reported that to HP Barcelona and they admitted it as a bug but no remedy firmware followed. That bug I must have written about in 2009/2010.
The Z3100 got the Skew Check Off mode maybe a year after the printer was available so in 2007 and it does not have the issue as described, speed remains the same, just the paper insert is different.
For dual sided printing in register I often start printing from the roll and then with a precut on the roll leading edge right after the paper insert so the first printed sheet has the same leading edge as the rest that come after it. Add about 15mm extra for the print page size to create the right print margin at the trailing edge for sheet printing. Qimage image corner marks added in the print. First side done, I cut the left side that it has the same distance as the right side has to the Qimage corner marking (there has to be at least some mm extra white on the left in the first print run). Frugal ink image like text preferably printed first as there will be less smudging and the paper will keep its dimensions better. I then insert the printed sheets turned over (leading edge still leading edge) but at an angle so the printer directly says I have to use the blue line for register. On that blue line I use tabs to register the leading edge against. On the left right register the sensor on the head of the Z should give the same distance it did in the first run. After one or two prints I have the skew between front and backside register in control.
The Skew Check Off mode was intended to allow paper with deckle edges. For register it is working out worse anyway, not just on the printing speed. I print deckle edge sheets on the Z3100 when needed but it happens seldom.
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots
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About to pull the trigger on a 44" Z3200PS.
I totally agree with MHMG...
If you are a photographer/printmaker and/or print mainly for yourself or for a select group of perfectionistic clients, then the Z3200PS hits all the right notes. Easy to set up, easy to maintain, beautiful print quality on both glossy and matte fine art media, and still the best print longevity even compared to the latest Epson and Canon offerings.
Had the HPZ3100PS 44", and did the belt replace, but managed to get a new REV B HPZ3200PS 44" too.
We can only hope HP stays the course.
So long for now, Tom
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Sounds like there is a good support network of folks who are willing to help if and when an issue arises. I am only going to be using it for personal work for no large scale commercial printing :-)
Any suggestions on where to buy inks and media and what type of media is especially suited for this printer?
Thx
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Sounds like there is a good support network of folks who are willing to help if and when an issue arises. I am only going to be using it for personal work for no large scale commercial printing :-)
Any suggestions on where to buy inks and media and what type of media is especially suited for this printer?
Thx
If buying ink new - just google and find lowest prices. Not much more you can do.
Be sure to confirm expiration dates.
Follow posts of MHMG and Deanwork and Ernst Dinkla for best media to print on. Important to do your homework on this printer - read as much as you can on this forum.
It's probably the best source for info you're looking for.
Best -
Mark
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Any advice on loading sheets and avoiding multiple skew error rejections welcome.
I made a sheet feed tray a few years ago when I was struggling to print double sided A3 pages accurately for a client's portfolio. It still isn't completely error proof but I find it helps. Mine is not very big but I think it could be scaled up, space permitting.
William.
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Excellent William! Thanks!
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Anyone know what the cost of printing is on this printer? Color versus black and white?
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Dang...reading through all these forum posts about some Utility being discontinued and something called "Click" replacing it...I was about to place an order tomorrow but I may have to halt. In other words is this news going to spoil my wedding plans???
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I have the Z5200 44" model and love it. It's been running 24/7 for over two years with hardly any clogs. Maybe once I had to run a head cleaning. I've replaced the heads once but it is cheap and easy. Four modules plug in like an ink cartridge. The printer wakes itself up a few times a day and does some mystery maintenance, likely cleaning the print heads.
I bought this after my Epson 7900 failed and need new print heads...and $1800 proposition that requires a service tech on site/
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I have the Z5200 44" model and love it. It's been running 24/7 for over two years with hardly any clogs. Maybe once I had to run a head cleaning. I've replaced the heads once but it is cheap and easy. Four modules plug in like an ink cartridge. The printer wakes itself up a few times a day and does some mystery maintenance, likely cleaning the print heads.
I bought this after my Epson 7900 failed and need new print heads...and $1800 proposition that requires a service tech on site/
The experience of many here with HP Z Designjets. Most here like to have 12 ink models though. The Z5200 and Z5600 have the Chromatic Red ink too if I recall it correctly. Wonder how much gamut and gloss difference there is compared to the Z3200.
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots
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Z5200 - will have to compare and see what the diff is between the 3200 and 5200 both size and price for starters. The 3200 is regarded as a good for low volume printing (hobbyist like me). I wonder if the same holds true on the 5200?
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Z5200 - will have to compare and see what the diff is between the 3200 and 5200 both size and price for starters. The 3200 is regarded as a good for low volume printing (hobbyist like me). I wonder if the same holds true on the 5200?
Heads are the same but 8 colors = 4 heads instead of 6. Printer technology the same. Allows the bigger carts with 300 ml but can still use the 130 ML. Faster printing. No gloss enhancer. Fade properties of the inks should be similar. I see no reason that it does not suit low volume printing. It is the gamut that will differ and whether gloss papers are compatible enough that they can work without GE. I was not so impressed by the Z5200 gloss prints some Photokinas ago but that was 5 years ago I think.
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots
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I went to the HP site today to see if there was anything new in the driver/software utility area. The utility is still only the "Click" thing but there was a September 2017 PCL driver posted.
Anyone have a spare PC connected to their Z3200 that can try this out and report findings?
If it would at least have a Properties page that would turn off color management in the printer then the PC apps could manage it themselves.
Thanks
jim